The AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G (product number 2199) was announced on April 27, 2011 and made available around June 2011 for suggest retail price (SRP) of $219.95. The lens received some very positive reviews online. A year later, the lens is still difficult to find. Most reputable retailers are sold out. Some unscrupulous sellers seized the opportunity to sell the lens over the SRP.

With a trip coming up soon I tried to find one online but I was not willing to reward the bad dealers. Amazon has been my favorite place to shop camera gear. However the Amazon page for the AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G seemed to always have “Temporarily out of stock” status. In anticipation of acquiring this lens, I have sold my old 50mm f/1.8D on Craigslist. I already have the AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR as main travel lens but consider a fast prime lens essential for certain shooting situations.

Without any other options, I placed the order on May 24th and hoped for the best. Today I received notification from Amazon that the lens is on the way! Just in time for the trip. I checked the Amazon page again, it still shows “Temporarily out of stock”. Perhaps with a high demand Amazon keeps filling the back-orders and doesn’t have enough stock to sell openly on its website.

For anyone who is interested in a comparison between the AF-D and AF-S version of Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lenses, here is a nice video by DigitalRevTV.